Forward.

Image // Taken by me. Spray Lakes, Alberta, Canada. This month on the Ceremony I'm doing written interviews with six incredible women, all different ages, careers, stages of life and all committed to a daily ritual of some kind. This month, beginning tomorrow, I will also be participating in 21minutes of yoga for 21 days with The Moving Room. Tonight I got some serious wanderlust.... I've have spent the last two hours googling tickets to Canada, Italy, The Netherlands- you name it. I kept thinking, surely December this year should be fine? Surely we'll be able to travel as long as we're cautious? The truth is, I'm not so sure. Can you see it now? Sitting on a small round table eating fresh pasta with a full glass of wine, then trying not to trip on the gaps between the stones as you walk to get gelato? Or waking up in Canada on Christmas morning, with champaign snow & a turkey in the oven. I get excited just writing it. After I closed the browser window, shopping cart full with tickets to multiple countries- I realised, without sounding like Carrie Bradshaw writing about her life in Sex and the City, how important it is to have something to look forward to every day. I remember I asked a mentor one day, what do you think the most important thing is to have in life? And they said without a second thought, 'something to look forward to'. Let yourself go there, let yourself think about the trips you're going to take, the people you're going to get to spend time with. The meals you'll taste, the weather, picture it all. Then, get out your book and pen and write every moment of it. From leaving the house to returning to your bed afterwards- then place it on your side table and rest. In your writing, whatever happens between leaving your home and returning to your bed is up to you. It could be a hike, Sushi in Japan, visiting a friend, seeing the Guggenheim; that part is up to you, but let yourself imagine it, fully. I realise I write this from extreme privledge, I have a job, a house, food, savings, and a trip to Europe is not possible for a lot of people- but whatever it is for you, let yourself lean into it and spend the next six months working dilligently to your 'something to look forward to'. Remember, joy lies in the anticipation, not the event.

Gelato Messina, Smith Street. Daily Ceremony acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land we work on, and we pay our respects to elders past, present and emerging.